Soulslikes are a dime a dozen these days. People just can’t get enough of ultra difficult RPGs that can rip your hair out. This year alone has seen the launch of Elden Ring Nightreign, The First Berserker: Khazan, and Lies of P: Overture. Today, Wuchang: Fallen Feathers joins this crowded list, touting flowing combat and a dense story. Is it a worthy addition to the Soulslike tradition, or have we finally reached genre fatigue?

An audacious debut

With only a modest VR game released in the past, Leenzee makes its true industry debut with Wuchang: Fallen Feathers. As with all Soulslikes, Wuchang will endlessly tempt players into flinging their expensive controllers into the wall over its difficult boss fights. To entice players to keep going, the game also has a rich backstory they can carve out only through drip-fed lore nuggets.

Bai Wuchang, a female pirate, wakes up with amnesia (a perennial disease of every Soulslikes protagonist) in the lands of Shu. She also finds herself infected with a disease called Feathering. However, unlike other infected individuals, Wuchang remains lucid and doesn’t turn into a demonic monstrosity. Armed with her changdao (and an assortment of other weapons she can find along the way), she must traverse this awful land in search of answers to her mysterious disease.

Combat that caters to a true variety of play styles

Even if they offer enough weapons to fill an armory, Soulslikes can easily fall into the trap of making only a few options viable to play through the entire game. Wuchang avoids this problem by making each available weapon type as exciting as the others.

In the game, players can pick up longswords, one-handed swords, dual blades, spears, and axes. Each of these comes with a dedicated skill tree which unlocks new attacks, combos, and weapon upgrades. The spoke-like skill tree also has one additional branch catering to general upgrades such as the number of healing flask uses.

Personally, I prefer using one-handed swords and dual blades. But each weapon type is just as exciting because of how many combos you can chain together in combat.

Plus, there’s an interesting Skyborn Might system. Every successful dodge (or as triggered by some effects) grants you a charge of Skyborn Might, which you can then spend on powerful skills and spells. Because of how powerful these abilities are, it’s impossible to ignore this system. Most of my boss battles involved a rinse-and-repeat of recharging my Skyborn Might, expending them on one powerful attack, and backing away to do it again.

The Madness system also needs a big shoutout. The more she dies, the more Wuchang’s madness meter fills up. Higher madness means higher damage dealt… and taken. Certain skills are also unlocked based on madness level. A completely filled up madness meter results in an evil manifestation which hunts players down. It’s an excellent risk-reward system that rewards and punishes aggressive play styles. This is the game’s bright spot in my opinion.

Imbalanced difficulty cheapens the experience

That said, Wuchang has a difficulty problem. Now, as my colleagues and friends can attest to, I love the Soulslike genre. I thrive under the extreme challenge and the thrill of conquering a difficult boss. However, this game just pushes the boundaries of what’s acceptable.

A balanced diet of difficulty spikes is crucial to how enjoyable a Soulslike is. My favorite games in the genre often feature a gradual escalation of difficulty. Spikes are always designed to teach valuable mechanics in the game. For example, a rather difficult early-game boss (see: Father Gascoigne from Bloodborne) wants to teach players how to dodge properly, instead of just mashing the attack button.

Wuchang doesn’t feel balanced in this way. Right from the beginning, the game pits you against difficult enemies and unrelenting traps.

The difficulty is a problem because of poise. Now, poise is an 0ft-hidden mechanic in Soulslikes, which determines whether a character staggers when attacked. A character with high poise, for instance, can tank through an enemy’s hits to land a counterattack. Meanwhile, a low-poise character will stagger and have their animations cancelled. Wuchang has as much poise as a butterfly beelining towards a plane’s turbine. Every enemy attack, especially in the early game, staggers her, leading to an uninterrupted barrage of blows and (often) a game over screen. On the other hand, enemies have the poise of a brick wall. The imbalance is too much like a game of attrition where you constantly have to dodge with very little chance to launch a counterattack.

The traps, on the other hand, are way too many. It’s normal for a Soulslike to lure players into seemingly innocent situations, only to spring a surprise enemy. Wuchang relies on this too much. Every corner feels like it houses a hidden monstrosity. Having too much of traps is just the same as having none at all — but it’s worse because I have to pussyfoot everywhere.

Unoptimized engine creates too much load times

Normally, I don’t complain about the lack of optimization. I’m usually patient enough to withstand longer loading times. So, when I complain about Wuchang‘s lack of optimization, it’s saying something.

Loading times are longer than what most games take on modern hardware. Even the act of resting at a shrine (and thereby resetting the world) feels like it takes way longer than it should. Ironically, the game itself only has a modest file size, so it’s not like it has a huge pool to draw resources from.

Additionally, the graphics are strangely wonky. Don’t get me wrong; Wuchang is a beautiful game. But the odd dips in quality takes me out a bit. Now, I prefer playing on framerate mode, but I’m still losing frames. Certain UI elements, such as the meter that determines when an enemy staggers, become too pixelated to be of much use.

For reference, I played the game on a PlayStation. This is the first time I’ve ever experienced quality this poor on this machine.

Should you play Wuchang: Fallen Feathers?

In a segment as saturated as the Soulslike genre, having a truly revolutionary title is out of the question already. Wuchang: Fallen Feathers doesn’t add much to the segment, but it does get combat right. Among its peers, it has one of the most dynamic systems that can chain moves and combos easily with an abundance of skills and spells. Plus, the inspired madness system makes death much more impactful than other games.

That said, I wouldn’t call this an extremely polished game. The imbalanced difficulty and unoptimized engine prevent this game from achieving significant heights. However, Leenzee can easily fix this with a couple of patches. At its current state during my review, it still needs tweaking. I don’t think I’m tired of the Soulslike genre, but games like Wuchang don’t really help.